For many people, taking your first step in management with a team battling for its Football League existence and without a win in 10 games would be a daunting prospect.
But for Colin Kazim-Richards, whose nomadic career brought success at 18 clubs across eight countries, Crawley Town felt like the perfect stage to showcase his coaching credentials.
‘I like pressure situations,’ Kazim-Richards tells Daily Mail Sport, having arrived four weeks ago with the club one point clear of safety and seven games remaining. ‘My career has been full of them, and I work quite well in that environment.
‘It’s a bit different now as a manager, but I’m enjoying it. Everything’s moving so fast, especially given the situation we’re in. You haven’t got much time to dwell on things and you have to fix the situation as quickly as possible.’
His immediate mission is ‘Destination Survival’, as he has dubbed it, with Crawley fighting to avoid a return to non-League for the first time since their 2011 promotion to the EFL. The Red Devils have spent four seasons in League One during that time, including last year, when they were relegated by a single point.
The early signs are encouraging – snapping a winless streak immediately in his first game at home to Gillingham, repeating the trick at relegation rivals Newport a week later and picking up another point last week at home to Shrewsbury. The gap to the drop zone is still only two points, however, ahead of the final two games against midtable Accrington and promotion-hunting Salford.
Colin Kazim-Richards came in as Crawley boss last month as they battle to stay in League Two
Kazim-Richards is in his first managerial role but has taken seven points from five games
Kazim-Richards’ appointment, where he emerged as the ‘outstanding candidate’ after an intense recruitment process, caught many by surprise, but he had been coaching in Arsenal’s academy since 2024 following his retirement from playing a year earlier.
The reality in West Sussex is a far cry from north London. An availability crisis has left him naming just six substitutes – one short of the permitted seven – in each of his five games so far.
‘When I assessed the situation, I felt this team was good enough to stay up,’ says the former Brighton, Sheffield United and Turkey winger. ‘I believed I could thrive in it, but the main factor was I believed Crawley could get out of trouble and they deserved someone who felt that and was willing to give everything.
‘It might have been easier for the club to go with a more experienced name, but we had to come in and make an impact straight away. We couldn’t live off what we’ve done in the past, and that’s why I thought it was a great job for me.’
Kazim-Richards replaced Scott Lindsey, who guided Crawley to promotion via the League Two play-offs two years ago before he returned at the back end of last season after a stint at MK Dons.
Tactically, Kazim-Richards has made his mark, switching to a 4-4-2 and encouraging quicker play with more players in the box to ensure his strikers are less isolated.
Under Lindsey, Crawley used a back-three system and had scored 36 goals in 39 games. Lindsey’s style was slower and methodical, and Crawley have the second-highest average possession in League Two despite their position in the table.
‘The main thing is understanding the players you have and putting them in positions to succeed,’ explains Kazim-Richards. ‘If I played a system or a style that we don’t have the players for, that would be silly.’
Kazim-Richards (pictured celebrating a goal for Fenerbahce against Chelsea in 2008) played for 18 clubs across eight countries in a nomadic but successful career
He also won 37 caps for Turkey, representing them at Euro 2008 when they reached the semi-finals
Kazim-Richards, pictured here with assistant coach Julian Gray (left), was coaching in the Arsenal academy before he took the job at Crawley
Equally important has been the psychological shift.
‘The biggest thing was to give them confidence they are able to get out of trouble,’ he adds. ‘It won’t happen by chance, but we’re in control of it and we have to believe. You’re not going to go to sleep and wake up and it’s gone. This is like being hungry and you haven’t eaten for a few days. You go to sleep and you wake up hungry.
‘It’s a mindset day-to-day, and every day we’re trying to get better by one or two per cent minimum.’
Kazim-Richards has been impressed with his squad’s attitude and talent, despite a turbulent season that saw a club-record 13 signings arrive in January – including four members of their promotion-winning squad from 2023-24 – and 11 stars depart.
That backing didn’t translate into results for Lindsey though, and a familiar problem has been an inability to score. Crawley’s tally of 41 goals is the third lowest in the division. Top scorer Harry McKirdy has just eight – and they are underperforming their expected goals by 14.3.
Defensively, there are signs of progress, with three clean sheets in Kazim-Richards’ five games. That solidity was a problem throughout the campaign, having shipped 65 goals overall, including 22 from set-pieces.
Goalkeeper Jacob Chapman has proven to be a shrewd winter loan signing from Huddersfield, with eight clean sheets in 18 matches.
Kazim-Richards has also leaned on his own experiences since coming in, having been involved in five relegation battles as a player.
The former forward hugs Wayne Rooney during his Derby County days. The Rams were one of five English clubs he played for
At Celtic in 2016, where he won the Scottish title in a four-month stint
Scoring the winning goal for Blackburn away to Arsenal in the FA Cup in 2013
‘They’ve helped massively,’ he says of those times. ‘It helped me gauge the environment in the changing room and withstand setbacks and be strong-willed.
‘You understand we’re going to take hits, but it’s about how many times we can get hit and still believe and keep going. The team was used to taking hits, and then it was like, “Oh, here we go again”. That’s not the mindset now.’
Pressure, after all, is nothing new for Kazim-Richards. He played all over the world including in Brazil, France and Mexico, won 37 caps for Turkey and even crossed Istanbul’s fiercest divide, joining Galatasaray from Fenerbahce in 2011 – and scored against his old club.
‘Since I’ve been eight years old everything has been high pressure,’ says the 39-year-old, who was born in Leyton, east London, and qualified for Turkey through his mother’s heritage. ‘The stakes have always been high for me and my family.’
Kazim-Richards was a leader during his playing days, but it was later in his career when he realised coaching was for him, and he paid particular attention to off-field matters.
‘Anyone can put on training sessions, but it is about the information you’re giving people and the way you talk to them and make them understand it,’ he adds. ‘It’s about tapping into the mindset, character, and human side of coaching.
‘I have a footballing understanding because I’ve been in football since I was eight. You have to work on it, but you have to understand people and what it takes for them to wake up and play Friday, play Monday, and go again.’
For now, focus is on the final two games. But in the back of Kazim-Richards’ mind, he is coming up with a strategy and style of play for next season when he is ‘very confident’ Crawley will still be in League Two.
Kazim-Richards has learned from his own experiences in relegation battles as a player
‘Anyone can put on training sessions, but it is about the information you’re giving people and the way you talk to them and make them understand it’
The Crawley boss won his first two games and his side are two points clear of the bottom two
‘We’re focusing on the present, but when I’m at home, you’re thinking about it because I believe you step foot in the direction you want to go,’ he says.
‘Me not having a plan would be unprepared for the situation we believe we will find ourselves in. I’m not an unprepared person. But what we focus on now is the next game.’
The task over the next nine days is simple.
‘We need to win,’ Kazim-Richards concludes. ‘But also, we need to understand there are going to be times where we get hit. When we do, can we stop that bleeding and carry on going forward?’
